Reflections on American politics from one who thinks the republic needs constant attention.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Trump: Ally of the Republican Establishment

Trump: Ally of the Republican Establishment

P. Schultz

September 6, 2015

The link
below is to an article in Salon entitled “5 ways Donald Trump is blatantly sabotaging
his own party.” Not so much. Rather, Trump is helping, whether intentionally or
unintentionally, the Republican Party’s establishment types by making the
“insurgents” in that party look like losers. And this is fine with these
establishment types, even if it means that the Republicans will lose the 2016
election because that will solidify their power at the head of that party.

This has
happened before. Precisely, it happened in 1964 when the Republicans let Barry
Goldwater be nominated, who went on to be crushed by LBJ in one of the biggest
landslides in American political history. So much for the appeal in the
Republican Party of the Goldwaterites, as they were consigned to the dustbin of
history. And this prepared the way for Nixon's nomination and election in 1968. Most have never known or forgotten that Nixon probably outpolled Kennedy for popular votes in 1960 but you can bet Nixon and the establishment Republicans did not forget.

Moreover, this “loss” had another upside: It allowed the debacle in
Vietnam, which the Republicans and others as well knew was coming [if it hadn’t
already arrived], to fall on the shoulders of a Democrat president, viz., LBJ,
which was and still is a boon to the Republican Party. It is to this day the
Democrats who look “weak” on national security and this is in part a reflection
of what happened in Nam between 1964 and 1968.

More
generally, it is always useful to remember that it is a myth, a widely endorsed
myth but still a myth, that political parties are committed to winning each and
every election, even each and every presidential election. “Say it ain’t so,
Joe?” Well, it ain’t so. Parties will lose elections if necessary to preserve
the power of those in control, e.g., 1964, 1996, and perhaps 2016.